


With Eyes Wide Open

by hollyandvice (hiasobi_writes)



Series: Holly's Round Seven H/C Bingo Card [32]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Soul Bond
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-13
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-08-30 20:55:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8548819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiasobi_writes/pseuds/hollyandvice
Summary: "It's not your job, Spock," Bones had said quietly. "Ensuring the wellbeing of the crew is just as much my job as yours, and the task of handling this idiot has always fallen to me. This is my responsibility, Spock, not yours."
Jim and Bones bond.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'ed. Written for H/C Bingo Round 7.

Jim can see the tiny trembles in Bones' body, but for all that he wants to comfort him, he also knows that now isn't the time. The choice had been taken from them when the diplomats had insisted on a show of good faith and of the sanctity of the bond between crew and captain. Jim had refused to let Spock commit to the unknown that the ceremony would entail lest it damage his still healing relationship with Uhura. Spock had argued and argued but Jim had not budged, and neither, surprisingly, had Bones.

_"It's not your job, Spock," Bones had said quietly. "Ensuring the wellbeing of the crew is just as much my job as yours, and the task of handling this idiot has always fallen to me. This is my responsibility, Spock, not yours."_

_Spock had stared at him long and hard before relaxing in Scotty's hold and stepping back from where he'd been yelling at Jim. "If you are certain, Doctor."_

_"I am."_

For as clear and ringing as those words had sounded on the bridge, none of that certainty seems to have made it planetside with Bones. Still, he's holding himself tall and strong and Jim only hopes that the diplomats can't see the tremors that stand out like neon lights to Jim.

"You are ready, then?"

It takes Jim a moment to realize that they're talking to him. He drags his gaze away from Bones and nods. "We are ready."

The ceremony itself is relatively short. He and Bones listen as the priest speaks, speak their consent at all the right times, repeat the vows the aliens recite for them, tip the drink the priest hands each of them into the other's mouth as instructed, and then it's over. Jim can't stop himself from blinking distractedly as the priest ushers Bones away and the diplomats step up to Jim, congratulating him on his fierce and unwavering connection with his crew. Before he knows it, the treaties have been signed and he and Bones are headed back up to the Enterprise. He almost wouldn't think anything of it except for the way Bones keeps casting him nervous glances.

It isn't until he wakes, shaking, from a dream featuring his own face, pale with death, that he realizes there may have been more to the ceremony than the aliens had let on.

He throws on a shirt and makes his way as quietly as he can through the ship to Bones' room, and isn't at all surprised to find Bones mostly awake when he answers the door. Bones stares at him, sleepy-eyed and apparently exhausted down to his marrow, but doesn't wait much more than a few beats before letting Jim in.

Jim follows him into his room, soothed as always by the state of carefully balanced chaos that greets him.

"I take it you saw the dream, then," Bones rumbles as he turns toward Jim from the kitchenette, coffee in hand.

Jim blinks a few times before nodding. "What was it?"

"The priest said the bond starts in our dreams, where we are the freest and the most vulnerable. It was supposed to take a few nights to start," he mutters into his coffee mug.

Jim crosses the room to settle his arms on the counter across from Bones. "Do you want to stop it? There must be a way."

Bones nods. "There is." Then he turns to look at Jim. "Do _you_ want to stop it?"

Jim searches his face and finds that he has only one question. "Do you see that every night?"

Bones regards him from over the rim of his mug. Then, "More nights than not," he concedes before taking a slow swallow.

Jim nods. "Then no, Bones. I don't want to stop it."

Bones looks somewhere between surprised and relieved. "You're certain? There's no turning back if we don't fight it now."

"You're the first person that believed in me on this journey, Bones. The one that knows me better than anyone else. If this is the way to prove to you that I am alive and well and shall remain so for as long as I can, I can think of no better bond to cultivate."

"Sap," Bones mutters, looking away. Jim doesn't need to see Bones' lips to know he's smiling. His eyes are enough. It's all the confirmation Jim needs to know he made the right choice.

**Author's Note:**

> [Come hang with me on tumblr!](http://hollyandvice.tumblr.com/)


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